The remarkable artist Sonya R. Clemons is the Northeast Alabama Community College 2022 Alumna of the Year. As a young girl, Sonya overheard her father say, “one day, Sonya will make her living with her art.” Mr. Clemons’ prediction proved true sooner, and in more ways, than he or she could have dreamed.
A Huntsville native, Sonya moved to Scottsboro in 1990, during her senior year of high school. Shortly after graduating Northeast with an Associate’s Degree in Art, she began her career as a professional artist. Her reputation for charming and intuitive art grew quickly, and soon she was in demand painting murals in homes and businesses locally.
Sonya became Artist-in-Residence for Madison County Schools and held the same position in Jackson County Schools. In seven years, she painted more than 50 murals in schools throughout the region. At Bridgeport Middle School, a child first called Sonya “the Art Lady”—the name fit and stuck! Sonya painted murals in homes, businesses, schools, and other places in four states, but she also saw opportunities share her artistry through other media. Sonya began producing a very popular series of Alabama-themed works on magnets, Christmas ornaments, prints, t-shirts, coffee cups, stickers, and the like, exploring iconic Southern cultural staples as diverse as tomatoes and okra, the Vulcan and the Boll Weevil Monument, mountains and rivers, and local treasures and landmarks in towns from Luverne to Skyline. Her work is sold in galleries and gift shops across Alabama, and online.
Ms. Clemons is involved with a myriad of impressive projects which improve Alabama, including the Singing River Trail, This Is Alabama, public art projects across North Alabama, commissions for businesses including Huntsville’s Parkway Place, curating art shows, and more. She was named Jackson County Citizen of the Year in 2020, and was selected in 2022 to create the Panoply Festival of the Arts 40th anniversary poster and chosen to illustrate a series of children's books for a national publishing house. She worked with State leaders providing official art for the Alabama House of Representatives, the Governor’s Office, the Alabama Senate, and Appellate Courts in Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, and Texas. She has also completed commissions for statewide judicial, governmental, professional and trade organizations. Ms. Clemons created the official art piece gifted to attendees at the 2021 National Conference of Speakers of the House and was honored with resolutions and commendations from the legislative and executive branches. Her social media presence enjoys many followers far and wide, from all walks of life.
Most impressively, joining a renowned group of women authors, college presidents, business leaders, politicians, and others from across the state, Sonya Clemons was honored as one of Twenty Women Who Shape Alabama in 2020.
Sonya is nationally recognized for the remarkable Pictures of Hope therapeutic art program she created, providing free art classes for participants and families in the Jackson County Recovery Community, Drug Court and Family Wellness Court. This program has been emulated throughout the state and nation. Pictures of Hope is entering its sixth year being funded by the Alabama State Council of the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as through strong local financial support. Sonya has presented at both state and local conferences and seminars on the Pictures of Hope program.
Ms. Clemons is active in her church, community organizations, mentors young artists, and engages in a broad range of worthwhile endeavors. The 26th year of the career predicted by her father shows no sign of slowing, but sees The Art Lady and her creativity reaching new heights and new places.